Telangana

The State of Telangana

The newly formed Indian state Telangana has over 300 days of sunshine and has an average solar insolation of approximately 5kWh/m². Telangana is ideal for producing power through solar and also to meet its high agricultural consumption. To fulfill the power demand of state and reducing the carbon emission, solar power seems to be the best option.

By the end of 2015, the state government has achieved 342.39MW solar poer capacity and is aiming to add about 4,000 MW capacity of solar power.

Telangana floated a RfS in August, 2014 inviting bidders for the selection of a total capacity of 500MW solar projects. Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TSSPDCL) & Northern Power Distribution Company Limited of Telangana (TSNPDCL) were being assigned for solar power procurement.

The highest capacity went to Renew Solar Power with 2 projects each of 100MW and 40MW; with tariff rate of Rs 6.73 and 6.80 respectively. 23 successful bidders were allocated a sum total of 30 projects with capacity of 509MW. One interesting thing to note here is the tariff rate between the highest and the lowest bidder with a mere 50 paisa difference. The selection was through reverse bidding, with no L1 bidding and interestingly, there was no project limits for a bidder. The scheduled operation of any project was fixed at 10 months from the date of signing the PPA.

This 500MW capacity of solar power has started to take affect with not much of tariff rate difference among the winning bidders.

The record 2000 MW push on 1st April, 2015 by the Telangana Government has placed the state of top of others in terms of solar power in India. The RfS and the PPA floated by the state has accounted for a total allocation of 2,500 MW capacity of solar power so far.

Like before, the energy procurement will be done by the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TSSPDCL) & the Northern Power Distribution Company Limited of Telangana (TSNPDCL).

The selection will be through reverse bidding without any L1 bidding. With the minimum capacity of 2 MW, a bidder can submit bids for any number of projects. The maximum capacity of bid submission will depend upon the location’s evacuation capacity. With the PPA duration of 25 years, the Scheduled Commercial Operation Date is fixed at 12 months from the date of signing of PPA.

The allocation of the projects will be based on two categories as showcased below:

Category

Project Size

Benchmark Tariff

Total Capacity

Interconnection Substation

I

< 8 MW

Rs. 6.45/kWh

500 MW

33/11 kV

II

> 8 MW

Rs. 6.32/kWh

1500 MW

132/33 kV or 220/132 kV or 400/220 kV

For the set target, the following cap is proposed on the Requisitioned capacity:

District

Category I (33/11 kV Substation) in MW

Category II (132/33 kV or 220/132 kV or 400/220 kV Substation) in MW

Total capacity in MW

Mahbubnagar

100

300

400

Medak

100

400

500

Nalgonda

150

450

600

Rangareddy South

25

75

100

Warangal

100

200

300

Karimnagar

75

225

300

Khammam

50

150

200

Nizamabad

100

300

400

Adilabad

50

150

200

Requisitioned Capacity

500

1500

2000

The injection capacity limits should be as mentioned below:

Interconnection Points

AC Voltage level

Limits for injection capacity

33/ 11kV

33 kV

2-8 MW

132/33 kV

33 kV

6-15 MW

132/33 kV

132 kV

11-50 MW

220/132 kV

132 kV

11-50 MW

220/132 kV

220 kV

41-100 MW

400/220 kV

220 kV

51-150 MW

It is been predicted that a lot of solar power developers will pave their way for Telangana primarily due the reason that after a long time such a capacity has been floated in the country. In addition, the minimum allotment of 2 MW will attract a lot of small developers willing to invest in solar power plants.

In its efforts to push solar power in the State, state government decided to set up 400 MW in Mahbubnagar, 500MW in Medak, 600MW in Nalgonda, 300 MW in Warangal, 300 MW in Karimnagar, 200 MW in Khammam, 400 MW in Nizamabad, 200 MW in Adilabad and 100MW in Ranga Reddy districts. Telangana is also planning to increase the present power generation target from 4000 MW to 25,000 MW over the next three-four years.

The Future:

With the latest move by the Telangana Government, it has shown its commitment towards clean energy and also the 100 GW ambitious plans by the Central Government. It has also left behind the Indian Government’s allocation mark of solar power. This huge leap will definitely pave the way for compensating the state’s power deficits.

The state government is also planning to supply solar pumps for agricultural farms. A budget estimation of 500 crores have been proposed given by the Power Finance Corporation as loan.